Department Lead Feedback Discussion by Emily Harris

I like them

2025-05-06 13:36:16 UTC

Two Weeks. In case there is snow day .

2025-05-06 13:36:43 UTC

Maybe twice a month. If it is every two weeks there will be teachers that won't do it.

2025-05-06 13:37:24 UTC

Full Lesson Guide Link

2025-05-06 13:38:49 UTC

The curriculum guides have been very helpful for me. Easy to use. Haven't heard complaints or problems from my department. Only issue I've found is that for 7th grade I've never been able to use the "full lesson guide" link even when I'm signed in to TCI.

Making our own / being able to edit assessments in Mastery connect?

2025-05-06 13:40:48 UTC

The assessments are the only part of the curriculum that felt like I didn't have autonomy. Many times there were items on the assessment that we didn't cover or vice versa.

Mastery Connect

2025-05-06 13:41:48 UTC

This has been the bugbear of the year. Not very easy to use.

Too wordy

2025-05-06 14:41:07 UTC

They've been a good resource, but like what was already stated, they are too wordy in some spots. I wouldn't change much though, if it were up to me.

2 Weeks

2025-05-06 14:41:33 UTC

I agree, 2 - 1/2 weeks would be perfect.

Once a month

2025-05-06 14:42:39 UTC

I would like the flexibility of only once a month. Anything more frequent would be too much.

Flexibility in curriculum

2025-05-06 14:46:41 UTC

I know it sounds unrelated, but.....

2025-05-06 14:48:17 UTC

I would just love for my building to be fully staffed for a whole school year again. That hasn't happened since before covid, and it just spreads everyone way too thin all the time. It's causing burnout.

Workbooks

donnika — 2025-05-06 18:49:18 UTC

I think TCI is great if you are doing 90% online. But if you choose to work without chromebooks those workbooks are not very engaging.

Quarterly

donnika — 2025-05-06 18:50:26 UTC

I think quarterly would be more beneficial for both students and me. Having students complete a benchmark every quarter would give chances for students to pay more attention to their work/ grades. This also helps students understand the importance of completing work all year and not just at the last minute.

Pacing

donnika — 2025-05-06 18:51:41 UTC

I do feel like some of the lessons are out of order with current national/ international holidays. For example, Hispanic Heritage month falls between September and October, and we could teach about Latin America then instead of in March/ April.

Great for new teachers

donnika — 2025-05-06 18:52:27 UTC

I think the new version of the curriculum guide is great for first year teachers/ new to the content. TCi lessons do not always make it easy for students to master the standards/ content.

After each lesson/unit

donnika — 2025-05-06 18:53:27 UTC

After each lesson/ unit, I try to have them complete wrap up quizzes(If I was to go by standards instead of curriculum map, the quizzes would cover multiple 2-3 standards). These quizzes show me what they did/ did not understand, and I can use that data to know if I need to reteach a certain standard.

Differentiation

donnika — 2025-05-06 19:18:16 UTC

I would add easy-to-find guidelines to challenge the gifted students with extra activities, while providing easy-to-find guidelines to assist students who are struggling with the curriculum. I would keep the multilingual options, while adding software (or something) which helps and encourages the students to be more able to communicate/interact in English.

Create our own resources

donnika — 2025-05-06 19:47:48 UTC

I would like chances to go off track from the curriculum guide and insert other recourses that match up with the state standards. Me being a 4^th year teacher, I would like to create my own curriculum that follows standards throughout the school year.

Professional Development

donnika — 2025-05-06 19:48:12 UTC

Let teachers choose their own PD

2 weeks

donnika — 2025-05-06 19:49:04 UTC

A 2-week window allows enough flexibility for unexpected setbacks.

Additional Training

donnika — 2025-05-06 20:00:49 UTC

When new things are introduced, I would like to have additional training. When mastery connect was implemented, many people did not know what to do or how to do it but the expectation was to use it in our classes.

Pacing

2025-05-06 21:10:54 UTC

More consideration for those units at the end of the school year.

2025-05-06 21:11:16 UTC

2 weeks is fine.

2025-05-06 21:13:43 UTC

Considering that we give exit tickets weekly, I agree with the person that quarterly formative assessments in Mastery Connect would be nice.

2025-05-06 21:24:15 UTC

A resource log to refer teachers to when they have questions about curriculum or anything else that they may need to do their job effectively.

Pacing Needs to be adjusted

2025-05-06 21:40:21 UTC

Curriculum Guide are better, but need more flex days in each unit instead at the end of the year (8th grade U.S. History).

2025-05-06 21:43:41 UTC

End of the Unit Assessments should be kept.

2025-05-06 21:47:56 UTC

2 weeks seems resonable

Increased Teacher Autonomy-

2025-05-06 21:49:45 UTC

Create activity bank for new teachers and strongly encourage new teachers to stick to the materials provided in the curriculum guide BUT allow more experienced teachers to supplement their own activities and resources as long as they are aligned to the standards

2025-05-06 21:49:50 UTC

Greatest challenge was that in order to get one teacher to use the new curriculum this past year, I had to print out everything in advance for each unit and create a guide of what to do each week for that teacher.

2025-05-06 21:49:58 UTC

I think once a month or at the end of each unit is reasonable. That way teachers could use the end of unit ones already created.

2025-05-06 21:51:08 UTC

why are department lead meetings unnecessarily and inconveniently in person?

Curriculum Guides

2025-05-06 21:52:26 UTC

Overwhelming for new teachers, need to be reduced. Pacing seems to not allow for interruptions such as pep rallies, testing dates, need flex days.

2025-05-06 21:53:04 UTC

I am always curious about the morning meetings and who is able to get permission from their school leaders to attend during work hours instead of after school. I would love the opportunity to attend those morning meetings because I have transportation issues after school, but I am not sure how some department leads get permission to do this.

2025-05-06 21:53:44 UTC

The district needs to make sure that we are being treated like professionals, canned curriculum feels disrespectful and lazy. District resources are just that resources, things that teachers can use adapt and incorporate into their lessons and plans.

TCI Flexible Lesson Options

goboucy — 2025-05-06 21:54:12 UTC

For new to teaching/new to TCI educators, a breakdown (not directly in, but linked to the guide) may be beneficial. For example, when/how to use the outline v. slide deck.

2025-05-06 21:56:06 UTC

One of my biggest challenges is not having any communication or support from admin in my building.

Quarterly Benchmarks

goboucy — 2025-05-06 21:56:16 UTC

I like the idea of a quarterly benchmark, especially if they can be aligned to grading windows. This could assist with mastery-based grading (i.e. mid-terms that align with the essential standards).

2025-05-06 21:56:39 UTC

Pacing guides need to take into account the gaps our students have and the scaffolding we as teachers sometimes have to provide. For example, in 8th grade, Unit 2 takes a long time because vocabulary related to government and the Constitution is very difficult for some of our students. Unit 4 also takes longer than the time provided because students, at least at my site, still struggle with US geography

2025-05-06 21:58:00 UTC

A comprehensive list where new teachers can find materials

Goal of Common Formative Assessments?

goboucy — 2025-05-06 21:59:47 UTC

What is the goal of common formative assessments? Is it for teachers to practice gathering, analyzing, and using formative assessment data in their individual classrooms, OR do we want teachers to be able to look at horizontal/vertical alignment by comparing data across classrooms? Or both?

OSTP/CCRA Alignment

goboucy — 2025-05-06 22:02:38 UTC

Would love a pre-test and OSTP/CCRA benchmarks/practice tests built in Mastery Connect. :)

carnese2 — 2025-05-09 16:13:57 UTC

"I think the current unit assessment schedule in Social Studies is effective, yet I also see value in a quarterly assessment. This would allow for a broader evaluation of student progress over a longer period, providing a more comprehensive understanding of their retention and application of key concepts.